www.immupharma.com
ImmuPharma plc is a drug discovery and development company. The Company, along with its subsidiaries, is principally engaged in investing in pharmaceutical research and development companies. The Company has operations in Mulhouse, France and Basle, Switzerland. The ImmuPharma plc focuses to develop drugs to treat serious medical conditions. It has five drugs in development to treat: lupus, cancer, severe pain, highly resistant infections, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and inflammatory and allergic disorders. Its wholly owned subsidiaries include ImmuPharma (UK) Limited, which is a holding company; ImmuPharma (France) SA, which is engaged in pharmaceutical research and development, and ImmuPharma AG, which is engaged in pharmaceutical research and development.
ImmuPharma will not have to fund Lupuzor Phase III trial, says Merchant
Analysts at City broker Merchant Securities do not expect drug discovery and development firm ImmuPharma (LON:IMM) to have to fund a Phase III trial into its Lupus drug candidate, Lupuzor.
The broker, commenting on the news today that ImmuPharma is to retain the rights to Lupuzor following the completion last week of the acquisition of US drug firm Cephalon by Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals, said “it is common knowledge that from an ethical standing, a company starting a clinical trial (Cephalon) has a moral obligation to complete it or risk FDA censure”.
ImmuPharma is a biotechnology company that has a peptide pipeline that targets a number of diseases in areas of unmet medical need. This includes the Lupuzor peptide for Lupus that is entering late-stage development.
The reason that the firm has regained the rights to Lupuzor is because Teva has a competing drug candidate for Lupus. This competing interest means that ImmuPharma has the right – under key provisions of its agreement with Cephalon – to request the return of the rights to Lupuzor after Cephalon’s acquisition was finalised last week.
In 2008, ImmuPharma entered into an option agreement with Cephalon, while it was in the middle of a Phase IIb study designed, managed and funded by ImmuPhama. Cephalon paid ImmuPharma US$15 million, before the results of the study were known, for the exclusive option to enter into a worldwide licence.
Folllowing positive results of the ImmuPharma study in early 2009, Cephalon exercised its option by paying a further US$30 million. This was part of an agreement worth US$500 million in cash milestone payments, plus royalties on product sales.
Now that ImmuPharma has regained all rights to Lupuzor, it and Cephalon will decide the future of the current clinical trials that Cephalon has initiated in Lupus patients in the US and Europe. The firm expects to provide a detailed update of the development of Lupuzor in the near future.
Merchant said it believes Lupuzor is a “highly valuable asset” given the strong efficacy data previously generated by Phase IIb trials in Europe. The current Phase IIb trial in the US, conducted by Cephalon, will see 130 patients from the trial rolled into a Phase III trial. “We don’t expect ImmuPharma to fund this trial,” said the broker.
Meanwhile, ImmuPharma’s chief executive, Dimitri Dimitriou, said that he was delighted to have Lupuzor back. “This paves the way for new options for the future of the company,” he said. “We appreciate the support of Cephalon in the development of Lupuzor during our collaboration.”
Shares in the firm were down 4.8 per cent at 74.8 pence each by 10:51 am today.
